Begun in the academic year 1920/21, the club served to introduce new faculty wives to the Rice Institute (there were no female faculty members at that time). Later the club also included women faculty members. The Club has served to welcome new women and families to Rice by providing a social venue in an academic setting. Club members were also involved in charitable activities, such as sewing for the Red Cross, knitting blankets for Ben Taub Hospital, as well as having activities for Rice students and parties for faculty children and for club members. At various times in the club’s history, interest groups included Arts and Crafts, Bridge, Conversational English for International Students, Play Reading, Psychology, Spanish, French, German, Community Service Handicrafts, Gourmet, Museum Study, Ice Skating, Swimming, Tennis, Rice Tutoring Project Supervisors (of Rice students tutoring elementary school children) each of which planned various programs relevant to their interests. They met for coffees, barbecues, Easter Egg hunts, Christmas dances, and various programs related to their interests groups, often at Cohen House or at the homes of the various members.

The club made donations to the Fondren Library in memory of club members and faculty members who passed away. A Loan Closet was also maintained by the members for the benefit of the International graduate students, who were invited to borrow household items from the closet for the duration of their studies at Rice. Occasionally, the club was a recipient of gifts such as silver, china, trays, bowls, china, and a samovar.

Minutes, records, correspondence, invitations, photographs, oral histories and other materials documenting the social and charitable activities of the Rice University Faculty Women’s Club. The speakers and menus for the various programs and activities are noted, as well as names of persons memorialized. Directories and other lists often offer the members’ married names as well as their given first names.